Stang



March 22, 1955 sTANG 2,704,479

SLIDABLE JAW, RATCHET-OPERATED WRENCH HAVING A DETACHABLY PIVOTALLY ADJUSTABLE HANDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 7, 1953 Fai Q Zci sijang" March 22, 1955 T. STANG SLIDABLE JAW, RATCHET-OPERATED WRENCH HAVING A DETACHABLY PIVOTALLY ADJUSTABLE HANDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 7, 1953 :Zd Sia'ng' United States Patent SLIDABLE JAW, RATCHET-OPERATED WRENCH HAVING A DETACHABLY PIVOTALLY ADJUST- ABLE HANDLE Ted Stang, Rockford, 11!. Application January 7, 1953, Serial No. 330,069 7 Claims. (Cl. 81-177.8)

This invention relates to wrenches and is more particularly concerned with improvements especially needed on pipe wrenches, namely, in the handle portion of such wrenches to facilitate operating in close quarters or wherever the ordinary unimproved pipe wrench with a non-adjustable handle cannot be used advantageously, if at all, the present improvements also adding greatly to the efiiciency of such wrenches in normal situations where the conventional wrench is usable to its best advantage.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a wrench, the handle of which is quickly adjustably connectible with the head through the medium of a ratchet with the handle disposed at any convenient or preferred angle relative to the head within a range of nearly 180 of adjustment, the handle being readily shiftable from one position to another and being operable in any position with substantially the same positiveness as any conventional handle.

In one form of my invention the ratchet is provided as an assembled part on the head and the handle is pivoted on a yoke carried on the head and has a lug or tooth on its inner end arranged to be meshed and unmeshed with respect to the ratchet by oscillation of the handle relative to the ratchet, whereas in the other form the head is separate from the handle and the handle carries the ratchet which is detachably connectible with the head, thus permitting the use of a common socket wrench as the operating handle, a socket pin such as is commonly provided with such a wrench being insertible in the socket wrench and in the head to connect the handle to the head with the same adjustability relative to the head as in the form first described.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a pipe wrench including the improvements of my invention, Fig. 1 being a rear view of the wrench and Fig. 2 a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, and

Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 illustrate another pipe wrench of modified or alternative design including the improvements of my invention, Fig. 3 showing the head detached from the rest of the wrench, Fig. 4 showing the socket wrench adapted to be connected with and serve as the operating handle for the head shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 showing the socket pin for connecting the structures of Figs. 3 and 4, and Fig. 6 showing details of the ratchet drive for this wrench.

Similar reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the reference numeral 6 designates the head of pipe wrench having a fixed jaw 7 and an adjustable jaw 8, the latter having a threaded shank portion 9 slidable in spaced guides 10 and 11 provided on the back of the head between which an adjusting nut 12 threaded on the shank operates. A detent 13 has a rounded head slidable frictionally in an annular groove 14 provided in the nut 12 to hold the nut releasably in adjusted position, a coiled compression spring 15 seated in a socket 16 serving to press the detent 13 into engagement with the nut for the purpose mentioned. The rear end portion of the head 6 is forked, as indicated at 17, and a cylindrical ratchet 18 is mounted in this forked end on a square pin 19 that is received closely in square holes 20 provided in the two halves of the fork 17, the pin 19 passing with a close fit through a square hole 21 provided therefor in the center of the ratchet detent 22 provided in one snaps into the inner end of in one half of the fork 17 to lock the pin 19 releasably in the assembled position. A drift pin may be entered in the hole 23 to depress the detent 22 when the pin 9 is to be removed, as when the ratchet 18 is to be turned through approximately to present an unworn side to the toothed end 24 of the operating handle 25, after which the pin 19 can, of course, be inserted again to support the ratchet in its new setting. The ratchet 18 will be suitably hardened to reduce wear of its teeth to a minimum. The same is true of the toothed end of the handle. The handle 25 is pivoted on a pin 26 between two plates 27 that together form a yoke oscillatable on the pin 19, there being circular holes 28 provided in the plates 27 receiving the square pin 19 with a nice working fit. The handle 25 is limited in its oscillation with respect to pin 26 by another pin 29 mounted at its opposite ends in the plates 27 and entered through a short slot 30 provided in the handle struck on an arc with the axis of pin 26 as the center.

In operation, the handle 25 is disconnectible from the ratchet 18 by swinging it in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 26 as a center, as viewed in Fig. 2. Then the handle may be shifted through about 90 in either direction from the mid-position shown, the limits of adjustability for the handle being approximately on the line ab shown in Fig. 2. To connect the handle 25 with the ratchet 18 the handle is swung in a clockwise direction about the pin 26 as a center to engage the lug or tooth 24 between any selected neighboring teeth of the ratchet. When the lug or tooth 24 is meshed with the ratchet the pin 29 is at the end of the slot 30 and, consequently, the force applied to the handle 25 in turning the wrench is distributed partly to the pins 26 and 29 so that the ratchet 18 and tooth 24 assume only a portion of the load. Where the space in which the wrench is being used is limited, this improved wrench greatly facilitates the operation because the handle can be adjusted to a position in which it can be operated most advantageously and because the handle can be shifted to take a new hold on the ratchet after the nut or pipe or other part to be turned has been turned a given amount so as to allow easy operation again. The ratchet adjustment, in other words, enables more strokes to be made in less time and with less effort expended. Under normal operating conditions, the present wrench, due to the ratchet adjustment of the handle, operates much more efiiciently than a wrench with the conventional non-adjustable handle.

In the other form shown in Figs. 3 to 6, in which parts corresponding to parts in Figs. 1 and 2 are given the same numbers primed, the head 6' is substantially the same as the head 6 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but in this case the forked end 17 is made wide enough to accommodate the head end 27' of a socket wrench 31. The latter has a socket member 18' with the usual ratchet cooperating with the usual ceive in the square socket 21' thereof the usual square pin 19 shown in Fig. 5. This pin is insertible also in the registering square holes 20' provided in the two halves of the fork 17'. Spring-pressed ball detents 22' provided in the pin 19' cooperate with radial holes or depressions 23', one in the socket piece 18 in the socket wrench 31 and the other in the fork 17'. The usual rlrge ans is provided for reversing the action of the ratchet 18. A spring-pressed ball end portion of the pin 19 a radial hole 23 provided The operation of this form is substantially the same as the other form and substantially the same advantages are derived, but, in addition there is the advantage that one owning a socket wrench 31 may buy the pipe wrench head 6 separately and apply it to the socket wrench, or, if the complete assembly of head 6 and wrench 31 with pin 19 is purchased, the user has the advantage that he may detach the socket wrench and use it separately.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

pawl and adapted to re-' I claim:

1. A wrench comprising'a handle, a yoke carried thereby and having a ratchet element mounted therein with which said handle is pivotally connected for adjustment to any selected position throughout an appreciable range and with relation to which said handle is oscillatable independently of the pivotal connection for rigid connection of the handle to the ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect to the ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonal shaped openings provided therein, anda pin of polygonal cross-section entered removably in said registering openings.

2. A wrench comprising a handle, a yoke carried thereby and having a ratchet element mounted therein with which said handle is pivotally connected for adjustment to any selected position throughout an appreciable range and with relation to which said handle is oscillatablc independently of the pivotal connection for rigid connection of the handle to the ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect to the ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonal shaped openings provided therein, a pin of polygonal crosssection entered removably in said registering openings, and detent means for releasably securing said pin against displacement.

3. A combination wrench comprising a wrench head having a fork, a ratchet wrench comprising a handle having a head end carrying a ratchet element operable by oscillation of the handle, said fork and ratchet element having registering polygonal shaped openings provided therein, and a pin of polygonal cross-section entered removably in said registering openings, said ratchet wrench when in disassembled relation to said first named wrench head being operable as a separate ratchet wrench.

4. A combination wrench comprising a wrench head having a fork, a ratchet wrench comprising a handle having a head end carrying a ratchet element operable by oscillation of the handle, said fork and ratchet element having registering polygonal shaped openings provided therein, a pin of polygonal cross-section entered removably in said registering openings, said ratchet wrench when in disassembled relation to said first named wrench head being operable as a separate ratchet wrench, and detent means for releasably securing said pin against displacement.

5. A wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein the ratchet element is of cylindrical form and when mounted with the yoke in the wrench head permits pivotal adjustment of the handle and rigid connection therewith in different positions throughout a range of approximately 180", said ratchet element being rotatably adjustable in the yoke when detached from the wrench head, whereby to permit presenting an unused portion of. the said ratchet element for connection and disconnection with the handle.

6. In a wrench of the slidable jaw type, the combination of a wrench head having a slidable jaw on one side thereof and having a forked portion projecting from the opposite side thereof, said forked portion having registering polygonal shaped holes provided therein and receiving a polygonal shaped pin transversely of the forked portion, a cylindrical ratchet disposed in said forked portion having a polygonal shaped center hole in which said pin is received with a close fit, two plates disposed in said forked portion on opposite sides of said ratchet having circular holes provided therein through which the polygonal shaped pin extends allowing pivotal adjustment of said plates with respect to said pin and ratchet, and an elongated handle pivotally mounted between said plates and having a toothed inner end portion detachably connectible with the ratchet in different positions of pivotal adjustment of said plates with respect to said ratchet.

7. A wrench as set forth in claim 6 wherein said handle and plates have in addition to the pivotal connection a pin and slot connection in radially spaced relation to the pivotal connection permitting limited oscillation of the handle with respect to the plates but enough for connection and disconnection of the toothed end of the handle with the ratchet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 45,931 Meader Jan. 17, 1865 525,683 Friede Sept. 4, 1894 525,684 Friede Sept. 4, 1894 1,564,838 Ericson et al. Dec. 8, 1925 1,650,085 McDonough Nov. 22, 1927 1,724,491 Mandl Aug. 13, 1929 1,944,171 Daugherty Jan. 23, 1934 

